In a strange turn of events for the Buffalo Sabres, the team has announced that forward Patrik Berglund has been suspended indefinitely for “failure to report to the team”. Berglund has missed the past two games for the Sabres with what the team reported as a sickness, but which now seems like something else entirely. Few details have emerged yet about this bizarre situation.
Berglund, 30, is in his first season with the Sabres after being traded away by the St. Louis Blues this off-season as part of the Ryan O’Reilly return. While Berglund began the season as Buffalo’s second-line center and was reportedly looking forward to mentoring the teams many young Swedish players, things haven’t played out so nicely for the veteran pivot. Berglund has spent the majority of the early season skating in the bottom-six and has just four points in 23 games, by far the worst scoring rate of his career. Berglund missed five games due to injury in the first two months of the season, but was also twice tabbed as a healthy scratch. Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington reports that Berglund did not take too kindly to being benched. Harrington adds that Berglund has also been very closed off with the media during his time in Buffalo, in retrospect probably a reflection of his frustration with his current situation.
Interestingly, Berglund’s alleged abandonment of the team comes without even a whisper of trade demands. Of course, those talks will now begin, regardless of whether or not there is a resolution to the present situation. Berglund is clearly unhappy with the Sabres and the team has sent a clear message that his behavior will not be tolerated. A change of scenery seems necessary and the sooner the better. Berglund is in the second season of a five-year contract signed in St. Louis. The deal carries a $3.85MM cap hit, slightly steep and lengthy for his current level of play, and a limited No-Trade Clause with a 20-team no-trade list, although Berglund is unlikely to decline any move out of Buffalo. The veteran forward is capable of putting up 30+ points per season and brings size and net front presence. He can also line up at all three forward positions and is familiar with both special teams assignments. With that said, Berglund’s current stunt – albeit without all the details yet known – on top of his poor production and unfriendly contract is not going to help his trade stock whatsoever. Hopefully the two sides come to terms on a solution to this situation sooner rather than later.
Berglund, Sobotka, and Thompson have been worthless since coming to Buffalo. Scary to think how good this version of the Sabres would have been with O’Reilly still on the roster. Although, that first-rounder from St. Louis is looking very nice now. Does anybody know if there are protections on it?
The Blues first round pick is top 10 protected. If they end up with a top ten pick the Sabres get the Blues ‘19 pick.
According to Cap Friendly, if the pick is top 10 in 2019, the Blues reserve the right to keep it and send the Sabres an unprotected 2020 pick instead. Pretty much an almost identical situation Ottawa was/is in from the Matt Duchene trade.
Ah okay. It’s amazing how a few months can change a team’s future outlook so dramatically. I remember when they made the trade back in July, along with the signings of Bozak and Maroon, people were talking about it as if they were bound to make some sort of playoff run. Goaltending is the issue that people usually focus on when criticizing the Blues, but it seems that their offense has, for some reason, fallen off a cliff in the past couple of years, even though it was only ever around league average to begin with.
Who woulda thought bozak and orielly along with guys like steen wouldn’t make this team an offensive powerhouse
Haha I know you’re being sarcastic, but they also have guys like Tarasenko, Schenn, Schwartz, Fabbri, and Parayko, with his booming shot from the point. Not to mention they went out and got Perron, who has held his own this year. On paper, they’ve had a talented, deep forward group for a few years now and, maybe because of coaching, they haven’t been as effective as they should’ve been.
The Sabres are better without O’Reilly. He’s a good player but he became a negative influence on the team. Remember at the end of the season when he questioned his love for the game? As a leader you’re supposed to uplift your teammates. He dragged them down. As for our return, I’m hopeful TT will develop into a consistent contributor. He’s shown flashes of it. Sobotka? meh
That’s a good point. Sometimes it’s easy to forget a player’s off-ice role.
I remember watching a bit of Thompson with St. Louis last year, and he certainly stood out. I hope he gets a chance to play in the top six at some point. It’s hard not to think of a young, less mobile Lucic when watching him, but it seems like he definitely needs to be surrounded by other playmaking talent in order to take advantage of his powerful one-timer and net-front presence.
The guy is a good reporter and his columns have even made the Olean Times Herald